Buying a home is a serious investment. Not only is it the biggest purchase most people will ever make, but it’s often their largest source of debt. Hazard insurance, which pays for property loss and damages in the event of disaster, is required by lenders to protect their loan’s collateral: your home.
Obtaining this insurance, also known as a homeowner’s policy, has always been a laborious process that further complicates the homebuying experience—until now. Matic, a digital insurance agency based in Los Angeles, California, integrates lenders and insurance carriers to make finding and buying the right homeowner’s insurance policy easier and more efficient for homebuyers.
RewardExpert spoke with Aaron Schiff, the company’s co-founder and CEO, about the inspiration behind his technology-driven agency and the service it provides.
Innovation Inspired by Frustration
When Schiff decided to buy his first home in 2013, his experience was stressful to say the least.
“I had 45 emails in less than 30 days, and most people asked me for the same loan documents even though I had already provided them,” he recalled. “I was super stressed out. Then, fast forward to two days before my loan was expected to close and the lender told me I needed to get homeowner’s insurance.”
As a first-time homebuyer, Schiff didn’t know what homeowner’s insurance was, let alone how to go about purchasing it.
“I tried to remember the last insurance commercial I had seen and then went to that company’s website,” he continued. “I had to provide a bunch of information like my name, date of birth, marital status and property address. Then it started asking questions I didn’t know the answers to, such as what the house’s roof was made out of and if it had a circuit breaker or a fuse box. I ended up getting kicked out of the system.”
Next, he tried to find a real, live agent to work with. After soliciting recommendations on Facebook, he called a friend of a friend’s dad who happened to sell insurance.
“I can get an Uber at my house in 30 seconds, but this guy took two days to get back to me,” Schiff said. “The first question he asked me was ‘What kind of coverages do you need?’ I was like, ‘I’ve never done this before, you tell me. Isn’t that your job?’”
Schiff didn’t want other homebuyers to have to deal with the same frustration. So, with the help of the company’s co-founder, Ben Madick, he set out to simplify the homeowner’s insurance purchase process in a way that would benefit both buyers and mortgage lenders.
“We wanted to integrate insurance carriers and lenders directly to provide homeowner’s insurance at the point of sale,” Schiff explained. “The lender has all the data the insurance carriers are going to need. The homebuyer doesn’t need to enter any information. And that’s how Matic was born.”
Multiple Quotes in Two Minutes or Less
Thanks to the company’s industry-leading technology, homebuyers who work with a Matic-integrated lender can now request, receive and compare multiple homeowner’s insurance quotes in as little as two minutes, rather than two days.
Matic’s system gathers the necessary data from the lender automatically and solicits quotes from multiple insurance carriers that are also integrated with the company’s technology. Matic even compares the quotes for you using machine-learning algorithms combined with human intelligence to evaluate each offer on price, coverage, customer satisfaction and a variety of other factors.
Choose the insurance quote that works best for you and Matic will prepare the necessary documentation in time for your mortgage closing.
“We work with some of the largest lenders in the nation,” Schiff said, “including Freedom Mortgage and Mr. Cooper. Because we have more carrier direct API integrations than anyone else, we have the ability to get more accurate quotes quicker.”
If your lender is not integrated with Matic, you can still benefit from the company’s exceptional consumer experience.
“Just go directly to our website, request a quote, and we’ll get you quotes from 12 or more carriers in about five minutes,” Schiff added. Matic can even bundle your homeowner’s and auto insurance to help you save money.
To learn more, visit matic.com or give one of the company’s friendly representatives a call at (818) 465-5388.